All Chapters of Bound by the Cursed Moon: Chapter 531 - Chapter 540

Point of View: Kieran"Do not touch the rope, Bram. Do not touch anything. Whoever cut this wanted us angry and running, and I refuse to give him what he wants."I am Kieran, and I said it at the foot of the old bell tower, with rain starting to fall on my neck. The tower stood alone at the north edge of Hollow Ash, a squat gray stump of stone older than the village. A single lantern hung from the door.Inside, the rope dangled from the high beam. Its lower half lay curled on the floor like a dead snake.I knelt. The cut was clean. Not frayed, not sawn. Sliced in one stroke by something very sharp."Maren's hour," Rhen said at my shoulder. She had followed me the whole way, with Briar and Isolde close behind. "Corra said only Maren would be listening. What does it mean?""My mother used to say it," Isolde answered. She was wearing her cord wound twice around her wrist now, and her voice was small. "When the dawn bell rings, the stone in the village cannot carry sound. Anyone speaking

Point of View: Kieran"If you open that door, Rhen, I will never forgive myself. Step back. Let me go first. I walked into worse than this before you were born."I am Kieran, and I said it with my hand already on my sword. My wife did not step back. She stood in front of Briar with her arms spread, the way she had stood in a hundred doorways, and I loved her so fiercely it hurt.The knock came again. Slow. Patient."I know you are awake," said the voice. It was warm and gentle, a grandfather's voice. "I only wish to talk. I have walked a long way, and my knees are not what they were.""Who are you?" I called."A friend of Corra's."Upstairs, a floorboard creaked. Corra stood on the landing in her nightdress, white as milk. She had heard. She looked at the door as if it were a grave."Do not answer," she whispered. "Please. That is him.""Corra," said the voice through the wood, almost fondly. "You promised me silence. Is it so hard to keep?""Go away," she said. Her whole body shook.

Point of View: Kieran"I have trusted you with my life for thirty years, Wren. Tell me I was not a fool. Tell me the voice Corra heard was not yours."I am Kieran, and I said it on my knees beside her cot, in a tower that smelled of cold bronze and wet stone. My voice shook. I did not care who heard. Wren had taught me to read old maps when I was a boy with a split lip and a bad temper. She had never lied to me once.She did not answer at first. Her thin fingers worked at the blanket. The scrap in her fist was Pell's note, crumpled almost to nothing."It was mine," she whispered. "The voice. It was mine."Rhen made a sound like a cut breath. Isolde backed away. Dorian's hand went to his belt, and I raised my arm to stop him."Wait.""She betrayed us," Dorian said."Let her finish.""Thank you, Kieran." Wren's eyes filled. "I am so ashamed. I did not know. I swear on the archive, on every page I ever kept, I did not know who I was speaking to.""Then tell us," Rhen said. Her voice was

Point of View: Kieran"If you want to reach my daughter, you will have to go through me first. I am not a young man, but I am a very stubborn one."I am Kieran, and I said it at the gate of Corra's garden, with the smith's fist raised in front of my face. The crowd had followed us from the well. A hundred voices were shouting at once. I kept my sword sheathed and my hands open, because a drawn blade would have lit the whole village like dry straw.Behind me, Briar stood very still. Rhen was at her side. Isolde, Sable, and Bram had formed a ragged line. Bram was shaking, but he held his place."Out of the way, guardian!" the smith bellowed."I will not.""She has brought a curse!""She has brought the truth." I kept my voice level. "And a truth is not a curse because it frightens you.""We have a right to be afraid!""You do. So do I." I looked at him, and I let him see my face. "I am afraid every day my daughter breathes. Do you think she asked for that scar? Do you think she wanted h

Point of View: Kieran"Do not look at him, Briar. Look at me. Look at your mother. Whatever he says in the next minute, you are still ours."I am Kieran, and I said it in the old Marrow quarry, as the last red sun slid behind the hills. We had come at a run, in the cart Dorian had insisted on, with the whole village singing behind us in the dusk. Their voices carried across the valley like a low tide. It was working. The stones were deaf.Except here.The quarry was a bowl of pale rock, cut deep and terraced in great steps. At its center stood a single dark slab as tall as a man, wrapped in moss. Beside it, on a flat stone, a lantern burned. And next to the lantern, with his back to us, stood a man with silver hair and a polished cane.Rhen's hand closed on my arm so tightly it hurt."That is him," she breathed. "That is the one from the well."He did not turn. He lifted one hand and made a small, polite gesture, as if welcoming guests."You came faster than I hoped," said the voice.